Color Settings - Illustrator

What is the "BEST" policy for opening client files into a color managed environment? The risk of double-profiling runs deep. Printing from the APP directly or choosing the printers's driver interface changes the results. Just printing a raster file from Photoshop or Illustrator produces different results.
Our settings are default to the global North American Prepress 2 and we have opened files under the policy to "Convert to working space" which was "Adobe RGB (1998)" for years until we finally profiled our systems with Monaco (now X-rite?) 6 years ago. Since that time we have set our RGB working space to that of the profiled monitors on each system.
Opening a file with an embedded profile produces questions - basically: "keep, convert or toss?" Each choice produces wildly different results. Not only that - but doesn't printing from the target printers' driver (or RIP) require that you "turn off" color mangement from within the APPS (Photoshop/Illustrator) themselves?
I remain convinced that the BEST POLICY is to open ANY file within your "working space" because that is your calibrated production FACT. Seeing it any other way - isn't reality, certainly not the reality found within the corral of your absolute production parameters.
i.e. Photographers are now demanding that we use ProPhoto RGB as their intended production profile even though I don't know of any ink-jet/laser printer (pigment)that can even 'knock on the door" of that color space. Best to my knowledge - only a monitor (light) can approach that gamut.
For these "distinctive" clients - how would YOU approach their file? Is it best to open:
a) "converted to 'our native' working space" and then have a policy of "Soft-Proofing" the file via "View>Proof Setup>Custom" to see their profile within our working space?
OR
b) "preserve embedded profile" and then change our "RGB and CMYK working spaces" to the customers' systems profile' (as they want us to do). This seems not only counter productive to me...but introduces unintended values that now begin to richochet about in double-profiling issues.
OR
c) is it best to let the APP make the color-mangement decisions?
OR
d) is it best to let the printer driver (RIP) make those decisions?
I know this is a loaded topic to respond to - so I'd equally appreciate any link to several good condensed answers.

>Since that time we have set our RGB working space to that of the profiled monitors on each system.
Why would you do such a thing?
The entire point of profile-based color management is to work in a
device indepedent space that assures the greatest working flexibility (e.g., file exchangeability) while maintaining color accuracy through final output. Conversion to the space of the output device -- whether that be a printer, a monitor, etc. -- is performed on the fly using the appropriate profiles.
>I remain convinced that the BEST POLICY is to open ANY file within your "working space" because that is your calibrated production FACT.
Working in (and tagging your files with) a space that is unique to your production environment -- as would be the case if you use a monitor profile created by a calibrator -- makes no sense unless
your monitor is the
only intended output device for your work and you're sure you would never be repurposing those files for other output.
As for your color management workflow, it's difficult to recommend a specific practice without knowing, for example, exactly what kind of output services you provide to your photographers who are "demanding" a ProPhoto RGB "production" profile. Clearly, you want to keep space conversions to a minimum and avoid, whenever possible, conversions between widely different spaces.
By converting all incoming files to your monitor space, you're violating the first -- and possibly the second -- of those "rules." You might also be doing serious harm to color rendition. Space conversions are not reversible, and a conversion from a wide space, such as ProPhoto RGB, to your monitor profile would entail loss of outlying color values that could never be recovered, regardless of the rendering intent used.
Recommended reading are essays by Ian Lyons at
his site
and those by the late Bruce Fraser, which you can locate via a Google search. You might also search and ask questions over at the Color Management forum.
This
is an old article by Fraser that originally appeared in the now-defunct Adobe Magazine. It was written back when modern profile-based CM was just catching on, and the product references are dated. However, it contains excellent explanations of the basic concepts.

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Setting the Color Settings (Illustrator - Javascript)

I would like to set the right color settings file using a startupscript in Javascript.
If the name of the color settings file to be set is "myColorsettings", I assumed this line should do the job:
app.loadColorSettings ('myColorSettings')
But it returns an error. What's wrong?
The manuals tells me:
app.loadColorSettings (filespec)
Thanks,
Peter

Peter, I would expect that 'filespec' needs to be a 'file object' created with a string to the full location & name of file… Some thing like…
var filespec = new File('/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Settings/Recommended/Europe Prepress.csf');
alert(filespec.exists);
Sorry I don't have a version that supports this for me to test. Check for the existance of the target file then load… Oh my example was on my mac your OS may differ…?

Illustrator CC 2014 – Printer Options, Color settings DTP – where to adjust details?

Till Illustrator CS6 there was the possibility to adjust the details in color settings "DTP".
Since Illustrator CC i only can chose "DTP" but can not define any precised settings for this DTP-Profile.
So when i print the files, in most cases the colors don`t fit.
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Thanks a lot!

Ask in the ID forum.
Mylenium

How can I set Illustrator CS5 color settings using Javascript?

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Hi imagecollection, that was kind of true in 2010, color mode was possible to be changed via Actions and vbs or as
Re: Change color space
with CS6 or newer it is more straight forward since js can play actions, and even easier using executeMenuCommand...however I'm not sure if the OP needs to change color mode or if he wants to load color profiles.

Why are the colors in Illustrator and Photoshop so off?

Hi,
Let me just start off by saying I have the color mode in both Illustrator and Photoshop set to RGB. Yet, there is a noticeable color difference between a picture on the internet and when I paste it in for example Photoshop.
Picture from the internet:
Picture when pasted in Photoshop:
It's the same thing in Illustrator. And this is not just with pictures by the way, it's affects all the colors I use, which is a major pain in the rear.
Anyone know a fix?

Well, my suggestion in post #13, was to help me find out what the cause of your problem is. It doesn’t solve your problem permanently but temporarily, only for the current session of Photoshop or Illustrator by making these programs show your image without applying any color management conversions. So, you have to do this every time you open such files in these programs.
If you want to understand what is going on and be in control, you have to go through a lot of walls of text unfortunately .
I’ll try to explain it roughly but if you don’t understand it you need to read more about color management.
You are using Safari and this is how its color management works:
https://developer.apple.com/library/safari/technotes/tn2220/_index.html
on that page it says:
"Important: For images that are not tagged with a color profile, their color values will be displayed on the screen by Safari with no optimization or adjustment for differences between devices in how they render colors. This may result in the colors not being displayed as originally intended"
This made me think that like most images on the web, the image you are using doesn’t have a color profile. In that case, assuming a certain scenario based on your input, the reason it is displayed differently from Photoshop and Illustrator is because you have a color profile of your monitor used by your system that is different than the color space used for the display of the image. By default RGB Images without a color profile are displayed using the color space set for the working space in the Color Settings of Photoshop and Illustrator. Also by default this color space is sRGB. If your monitor was also with an sRGB profile assigned in the system, which is the case with all monitors that come without a color profile provided from the manufacturer, you should have not experienced this problem because Photoshop and Illustrator will see that the color space you want to display your image is sRGB and your monitor is sRGB, and there will be no color conversions because both color spaces, source and destination are the same. Unless someone else has setup your system ,color management, and installed a monitor profile, my guess is that the manufacturer of your monitor has provided a color profile installed in your system that is not sRGB.
When you choose View > Proof Setup > Monitor RGB, this in effect turns off the color management because you are displaying the image in the same color space as the one assigned to your monitor.
If you want to turn off the color management permanently which will be valid only when displaying images in the sRGB color space, you can assign the sRGB color profile to your monitor. This will show the images on your monitor with the same colors as those displayed without color management in the other applications and choosing View > Proof Setup > Monitor RGB will make no difference.
Non color managed programs can display the color only in the way your monitor displays it. Color managed programs simulate other outputs on your monitor. The only way to match the display in color managed and non color managed software is to turn off the color managed software. This will display the same color values with the same color in all programs on your monitor.
The purpose of the color management is to allow the viewer see the colors as intended (the way the creator sees them when creating the image). Different devices and media output the same color values differently resulting in different color. Therefore, when the viewer uses different device or media the colors if not color managed properly will look different or not as close as possible.
When you turn off the color management, or even when it is on but not properly applied, which I suspect is the case in your situation, you can’t be sure that the colors you see are as intended. In other words, you can’t tell if an image is supposed to look the way you see it, and you can’t create images providing means that will allow others to see them the way you see them.
So, for whatever reasons you want to make colors look the same in all your programs, have in mind that this is valid only on the current state of your monitor, and this also cuts the possibility to see and send to others colors as intended.

Acrobat 9.4.4 won't sync with CS5 color settings

The color settings in Acrobat used to sync with the rest of the Creative Suite (via Bridge), but now it doesn't. I'm not seeing any way to make it happen either. It appears to be a bug or defect in the product. Can anyone confirm or resolve this?

Hi, Steve. Yes, I do switch settings with some regularity. I have custom settings for a newspaper that runs ads for one of my largest clients. (The default newspaper setting is not good enough, especially for grayscale.) I use the North American Web/Internet settings for preparing web graphics. And I use the North American Prepress 2 settings for everything else. Even when Acrobat would sync with the rest of the suite, it was grudging. It would take several seconds or longer. Sometimes longer than I could wait. The question that really is left begging is why Acrobat has so much trouble with something that InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator do routinely.

Problems with PNG colors in illustrator

I'm beyond frustrated with illustrator's png export at this point, contacted adobe customer service 3-4 times with no answer, already made a post about this with no solution, here is the problem; everytime I export from illustrator as a png the color changes. It doesn't matter if I am working in RGB or cmyk, the color will always change, typically the colors just look faded/ less saturated. There is no way for me to match the color of an exported jpeg to an exported png. This is a problem because when I give my clients their logo in png I need to import it into photoshop or preview to change the color coding so that it matches the previous jpegs I would sent them, now while working with packaging (cmyk document) the png export looks pretty faded, but it prints fine. Is this typical? My in illustrator colors look fine and are the same as my jpeg exports, the only thing that has a different color look is png exports, no matter if I choose embed color profile (save for web), assign profile, bascially any color choosing option in illustrator. I'm wondering what does everyone else do when their client wants the logo in a png? Do you just work around this with assigning a profile in a program other than illustrator?

I am afraid that the workaround is all you can do at the moment; open the png file in Photoshop and assign sRGB profile (you can set the Ask when Opening for missing profiles in the Photoshop color settings).
There is no way to embed a color profile in a .png file in Illustrator (like you can in Photoshop's Save for Web dialog)
But that looks like a good feature request:
Adobe - Feature Request/Bug Report Form

Problems with RGB colors in Illustrator

Hello,
i have a problem with saving my artwork which is done in illustrator in PDF file. This artwork needs to be saved in PDF in RGB colors. It seams that I cannot do this. Originaly artwork was done in CMYK. Option Edit/Edit Colors/conver to RBG is not working that is this option is not possible.
Any suggestions please. Printing company cannot process it if PDF is not in RGB colors.
Thank you in advance.

But there is no difference in either case as the file will not be overwritten.
True that the file will not be overwritten if you're careful not to do a regular save, but there is a difference.
When you switch from CMYK to RGB document mode in Illustrator, AI simply converts to whatever you've set as your RGB working space. Yes, of course, you can go into Color Settings and change your workspace profile if need be, but now you're monkeying with settings that you might not want to be changing frequently.
Why not, instead, take advantage of a feature that's there specifically to deal with workflow issues like this?
If the printer requires a specific RGB space that's different from your normal working space, it's much easier to select it from the destination color dropdown during PDF creation. If you'll be creating more files for this particular printer, simply record a custom PDF (job options) preset.
Even if one chooses to do it the Wade Zimmerman way, one should make sure to look at the color panel during PDF creation to make sure no unwanted space conversions are taking place.

Why doesn't PS CS6 accept color settings profile?

I've seen this question asked here and elsewhere, but without any resolution, and can't find any mention in the documentation.....
I customized Illustrator's color settings thusly:
But when I save the profile and try to load it in Photoshop, it throws this error:
"The color settings file contains settings that are not supported by this version of Photoshop running on this system. These unsupported settings will be reset to their default values."
Then if I close the dialog box, re-open it, and manually choose the same settings, it seems to accept it. Here is what Photoshop currently shows:
Anyone know what's going on? I'm running the CS6 Master Collection on an Intel quad core with 8 gb RAM and an nVidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti (2 gb PCIE 2). OS is Win 7 x64.

Sounds like Illustrator is saving some color settings data that Photoshop can't read. (normally it's the other way: Photoshop saves lots of settings that other apps don't use)
We'll have to do some testing to figure out what that is and why it's triggering the warning (not an error).

Lllustrator and Photoshop display different colors despite synchronized CS5 Color Settings

I've got some students who noticed that Illustrator and Photoshop display completely different colors on screen for eactly the same RGB values despite Color Settings being synchronized.
Settings are:
CSF: North American Web/Internet (RGB color space = sRGB),
Proof Set-up: Internet Standard sRGB
Proof Colors turned On.
RGB Values: R=0 G= 162 B=211
But colors displayed are not close between Ai and Ps.
With Proof Colors turned off, both apps display the colors reasonably closely.
I teach Photoshop and Print Color Management, so I admit my knowledge of how Illustrator handles screen proofing and proof set-ups for screen destinations is not comprehensive.
I expect I'm missing some difference in the two apps' behaviour.
Any info from anyone experienced in this corner of the field appreciated.
Cheers
Tom

I've got some students who noticed that Illustrator and Photoshop display completely different colors on screen for eactly the same RGB values despite Color Settings being synchronized.
Settings are:
CSF: North American Web/Internet (RGB color space = sRGB),
Proof Set-up: Internet Standard sRGB
Proof Colors turned On.
RGB Values: R=0 G= 162 B=211
But colors displayed are not close between Ai and Ps.
With Proof Colors turned off, both apps display the colors reasonably closely.
I teach Photoshop and Print Color Management, so I admit my knowledge of how Illustrator handles screen proofing and proof set-ups for screen destinations is not comprehensive.
I expect I'm missing some difference in the two apps' behaviour.
Any info from anyone experienced in this corner of the field appreciated.
Cheers
Tom

Screen not properly reflecting selected color in illustrator

When using the gradient mesh tool or paintbrush in Illustrator - the technique is not reflected ACCURATELY on the screen. For example when painting with a red brush - the screen shows a different color. Sometimes a different magnification will resolve the issue other times it will not.
Running MAC OS6 10.7.5
This is currently happening in Illustrator CS6
Illustrator 5.5 is also on the machine too.

If red doesn't "look" red. There you need to adjust color settings, color profiles, or have your hardware checked.

Photoshop Color Settings for Wide Gamut Monitor

Hey guys,
I have a wide gamut monitor (HP LP2475w) which has already been calibrated. My question isn't so much about that, but the settings I should be using inside of Photoshop (CS5). As far as color settings (ctrl+shift+k) goes, what am I supposed to use? I have sRGB as the rgb working space right now. (never use CMYK), Gray % Spot = dot gain 20%, and preserve profiles are ticked on for all 3. Am I supposed to be using Adobe RGB in RGB working space to get the most out of my monitor? I'm asking because it would be embarrassing if I had a wide gamut monitor and am working within a sRGB color cap. Please enlighten me with the proper photoshop color settings, so that it works well across the board (browser compatibility, etc)
As a FYI, I am a professional digital artist who specialize in illustrations for print campaigns. So far from what I've seen, whatever's been printed out of what I produce from this monitor has come out pretty much looking the same, so I'm not worried about that. Again, I just want to make sure I'm not careless and am using settings which doesn't make use of a wide gamut monitor.
Thanks for your input in advance!

I think a lot of users believe that the Color Settings have much bigger role than what they actually do most of the time.
When working with images you have to be always aware about the color space the image is currently displayed in.
In Photoshop the displayed color space of an image is obtained in the following order of priority:
1. from the choice in View > Proof Setup menu when the View > Proof Colors is checked.
2. when the Proof Colors is off, from the embedded profile.
3. when the Proof Colors is off and when the image is without a color profile (untagged) from the Working Color space selected in the Color Settings.
This image shows how to check the color profile of an image - I keep it permanently on.
As you can see, the color spaces selected for working spaces in the Color settings affect the display of images only when they are untagged (without color profiles). The color settings also set the default choice of a color space when you create a new document but you can always select another color space form the Advance section of the dialog that appears when you choose File > New. You can also assign a color space to any image by using Edit > Assign Profile. So, if you never work with untagged images, you really don't need to care at all what your working spaces in your Color Settings are set to. You can use the Color Management Polices in the Color settings as a tool that will ask you what to do when you have profile mismatch when you paste. Personally I never use these because I'm always aware of the color space of the pasted content. Also the conversion method set in the Color Settings will be used when pasting. If you want different conversion method paste the content in a new document created with the color space of the clipboard content and then choose Edit > Convert to Profile and after that copy and paste in the desired document with the same color space.

Why are colors in Illustrator 6 so much darker than in Illustrator 4?

I recently switched from Illustrator CS4 to CS6. The colors in 6 are much darker than in 4, and are not accurate to actual Pantone colors (they were very close to being accurate in 4). Has anyone experienced this, and does anyone know what to do about this?

Your color management settings may have changed since you said all colors are darker. check your color management settings match between CS6 & CS4.
Edit >> Color Settings
In regards to the difference between CS6 and CS5 or before the color books are now LAB not CMYK, so that means the values are different. A bad thing for print if you change the color mode to CMYK, the colors will be far off what the PMS book says, and you will have to manually fix this e color to match what CS4 uses.
CS5 the book colors were in CMYK so when you converted to CMYK the colors were a close match for printing.
In CS6 the color books switched to LAB which may be more accurate for RGB and digital workflows, but not Print CMYK.
In CS6 converting to CMYK, introduces scum dot (small value which serves little purpose and introduces screening) in cyan and black you would not desire, and in for example flexible packing scum dot would increase the visibility of a moire pattern. For printing never use the CMYK conversion in CS6.
Depending which PMS book you use the CMYK values change.
485 is 95m 100y in the Latest Color Bridge Book, so many brands prior to the bridge book reject that cmyk match for brand consistency with existing printing.
485 is 95m 100y in the solid process book. Many brands stick to this especially if they are matching what their brand was prior to the color bridge.

"Could not synchronize the color settings because of a program error." App keeps crashing.

Hi, I keep getting this error message, "Could not synchronize the color settings because of a program error." whenever I click on Photoshop in my dock. A few seconds after, I'll get a crash report. I just upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion and have not been able to start Photoshop since. Illustrator, on the other hand, works fine. Any idea why this is? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Can you open Photoshop with the shift.key pressed?
Boilerplate-text:
Are Photoshop and OS fully updated?
As with all unexplainable Photoshop-problems you might try trashing the prefs (after making sure all customized presets like Actions, Patterns, Brushes etc. have been saved and making a note of the Preferences you’ve changed) by keeping command-alt-shift pressed on starting the program or starting from a new user-account.
System Maintenance (repairing permissions, purging PRAM, running cron-scripts, cleaning caches, etc.) might also be beneficial, Onyx has been recommended for such tasks.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/onyx.html
Weeding out bad fonts never seems to be a bad idea, either. (Validate your fonts in Font Book and remove the bad ones.)
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/troubleshoot-fonts-photoshop-cs5.html
If 3rd party plug-ins are installed try disabling them to verify if one of those may be responsible for the problem.

Color settings in Photoshop for print production

Does anyone have experience and/or knowledge about the color settings in Photoshop?
We have business cards that will be printed using offset printing (4 color printing) and Spot printing (Pantone), and need guidance in configuring the settings.
Please help!

Oh, but by the way, Photoshop is an odd choice for business cards and a troublesome one for spot colour. Illustrator or InDesign perhaps.

Color Settings - Illustrator

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